This page explains how a buyer's own packing instruction decides whether a shipping carton holds a mix of sizes or only one size, for anyone who packs, checks or signs off a garment order's cartons: a packing supervisor, a merchandiser, a quality checker, or a new entrant to the trade. This lesson teaches information flow: the packing format printed in a carton's own instruction came from a line the buyer wrote into the tech pack, not from factory habit, and a person packing an order needs to read that line before a single carton is built.
Delta Garments packs two different orders in two different formats, on the same factory floor, in the same week, because each order's own tech pack tells the packing team something different.
Without this skill, a person can assume every order is packed the way the last order was packed, since that is the pattern a packing floor falls into fastest. A carton built the wrong way still looks finished from the outside: sealed, taped and stacked. Only checking it against the buyer's own packing instruction shows that the mix inside does not match what the buyer asked for.
You need: T07-C04-L02 (pressing methods and fabric-specific risks).
By the end of this lesson you can:
Not covered here: pressing methods and fabric-specific risks (lesson T07-C04-L02, already covered); finishing and packing quality faults and inspection (lesson T07-C04-L04); building the complete finishing and packing checklist (lesson T07-C04-L05); the tech pack's own labelling and packing section in full (lesson T05-C05-L04).
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Folding specification | The buyer's stated method for folding a garment before packing: how many folds, the finished folded size, and where any tag sits. |
| Assortment packing | Packing a carton with a mix of sizes in a stated ratio, so one carton represents a size run rather than a single size. |
| Solid-colour packing (solid packing) | Packing a carton with only one colour or one size, the alternative to assortment packing, per the buyer's packing instruction. |
| Carton marking | The information printed or labelled on a shipping carton, such as order number, quantity and destination, so cartons can be identified and sorted. |
| Size ratio | The split of an order's total quantity across the sizes offered, for example 1:2:2:1 for S:M:L:XL. |
A finished garment order is packed into shipping cartons in one of two formats: assortment packing, where each carton holds a mix of sizes, and sometimes colours, in a stated ratio, so that one carton on its own represents a size run; or solid-colour packing, also called solid packing, where each carton holds only one colour or one size. Which format is used is not the factory's own choice. It is fixed by the buyer's own packing instruction, stated in the tech pack's labelling and packing section (T05-C05-L04), and the factory follows whichever format that instruction specifies. Every carton is then marked, per T05-C05-L04's carton marking, with order number, quantity and destination, so it can be identified without opening it.
| What can differ | The shapes you meet | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| An export order with a stated size ratio | An export buyer such as Northline Apparel specifies a precise assortment ratio and carton marking format in the tech pack, since goods are consolidated and distributed to many shops from one shipment | Shows that assortment packing is the buyer's own instruction, not a factory default, on export orders |
| A wide-size-range denim order | A single-colour, wider-size-range product such as jeans is commonly packed solid-size rather than as an assortment, because one carton per size keeps a shop's own reordering simple | Shows that product shape, not habit, often points a buyer toward solid packing |
| A domestic MTS buyer restocking its own shops | A domestic Make-to-Stock buyer such as Cedar & Co., restocking its own 12 shops from forecast, may specify a different, shop-ready ratio suited to its own shops' typical size mix, rather than reusing an export ratio | Shows that two buyers on the same product can specify two different ratios, both valid, both fixed by their own instruction |
| A hanging garment order | A garment finished on a hanger inside a garment bag is packed into a hanging carton by units of hangers rather than by folded-garment count, changing what "one carton" represents | Shows the packing-format question applies beyond folded, boxed goods |
| A knit-to-garment or hosiery order | Socks and hosiery are commonly packed by dozen-pair units rather than by a size-ratio assortment, since a hosiery buyer's own standard pack unit differs from an apparel size run | Shows the rule extends beyond apparel to other product families, with the buyer's own instruction still deciding the unit |
| A home-textiles or bedding order | A bedding set (for example sheet plus pillowcases) is packed as one complete set per poly-bag and carton, not as a size assortment, since the "size" being packed is the set itself | Shows solid-versus-assortment thinking still applies, reframed around what one complete unit means for that product |
Delta Garments packs Order A for Northline Apparel using Order A's own fixed 1:2:2:1 (S:M:L:XL) size ratio, because Northline's tech pack states an assortment carton at that exact ratio. The same factory packs Order B (jeans) using a solid-size format suited to denim's wider size range, waist 30 to 36, because Order B (jeans)'s own tech pack calls for one waist size per carton rather than a mixed assortment.
Both orders come off the same finishing line, through the same packaging stage, and into cartons on the same packing table. What differs is only the instruction each order's own tech pack carries: Order A's buyer wants a mixed-size carton that represents a whole size run; Order B (jeans)'s buyer wants a carton that holds only one size, so a shop can reorder a specific waist without breaking open a mixed box.
The worked numberUsing Order A's own fixed figures (T05-C04-L01): the size ratio is S:M:L:XL = 1:2:2:1 across 15,000 pieces, giving S 2,500, M 5,000, L 5,000, XL 2,500 pieces.
A common mistake is packing by factory habit rather than by the specific order's own packing instruction. For example, packing Order B (jeans)'s denim as an assortment carton because that is how Order A was packed last, when Order B (jeans)'s tech pack actually calls for solid-size cartons. The packing format is order-specific, fixed by the buyer, and a factory habit carried over from a different order is not a substitute for reading that order's own instruction.
This mistake happens because two orders packed on the same floor in the same week can feel like one continuous packing job, so a supervisor repeats yesterday's method without checking today's order's own tech pack line. The cost shows up once a buyer's inspector, or the buyer's own warehouse, opens a carton and finds a format that does not match the packing list, forcing a re-pack of cartons that were otherwise correctly finished.
A finished order is put into shipping cartons in one of two ways. Either each carton holds a mix of sizes in a set proportion, so one carton stands for a whole size run, or each carton holds only one size or colour. Which way is used is not up to the factory. It is written down by the buyer, in the same document that describes the garment itself. One buyer selling to many shops from one shipment often wants the mixed kind, so goods go straight from the ship to a shop without being resorted. Another buyer restocking its own shops might want the mixed kind too, but built to its own mix. A buyer selling a product with many sizes, like jeans, often wants cartons that hold only one size, so a shop can reorder one size without opening a mixed box. Read that order's own paperwork before starting, rather than copying how the last order was packed.
The facts in front of the packing team at Delta Garments:
The document the team should read:
Should the team pack Order B (jeans) the same way as Order A?
No. The packing format is set by each order's own tech pack instruction, not by factory habit carried over from the last order.
First fact. Order A's tech pack calls for assortment packing at its own fixed 1:2:2:1 ratio, and the team correctly followed that instruction for Order A's own cartons.
Second fact. Order B (jeans)'s tech pack calls for solid-size cartons, one waist size per carton, a different instruction from Order A's, written for Order B (jeans) specifically.
Packing Order B (jeans) as an assortment would produce cartons that do not match its buyer's own packing instruction, a mismatch between the cartons and the packing list that a final inspection can catch, or worse, that the buyer's own warehouse finds after the goods have already shipped.
Framed qualitatively, since no separate figure for this risk is fixed in the master cast: packing an order in the wrong format, assortment when solid was specified, or the wrong ratio, risks a packing-list mismatch. That mismatch is either caught at final inspection, costing the time to re-pack the affected cartons, or found later at the buyer's own warehouse, which can force a full re-pack or a rejected delivery.
This is a real cost, not a separately quantified one in this academy's figures: a full re-pack takes longer than the single step of reading the buyer's own packing instruction before the first carton was built, which is exactly what this lesson's instruction-first method is designed to prevent.
This lesson feeds the "Carton pack ratio (assortment vs solid-colour)" row on the Finishing and Packing Checklist sheet. Record what the buyer's own packing instruction specifies before packing begins, then what was actually found in a sample carton.
| Check point | Spec says | Found (your entry) |
|---|---|---|
| Carton pack ratio (assortment vs solid-colour) | Assortment packing by size ratio, per the order's own fixed size ratio, or solid-colour/solid-size packing, per the buyer's packing instruction | Record the actual ratio or single size found in a sample carton, and whether it matches the instruction |
Download the full working sheet from the link on this course's page.
Download the Finishing and packing checklist, Finishing and Packing Checklist sheet (Excel)
1. What is the difference between assortment packing and solid-colour packing?
2. What decides which packing format a factory uses for a given order?
3. A different order of 6,000 pieces uses a size ratio of S:M:L = 1:3:2 instead of Order A's 1:2:2:1. How many size-L pieces does this order contain?
| EN | AR | FR | TR | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Folding specification | مواصفة الطي | Spécification de pliage | Katlama spesifikasyonu | The buyer's stated method for folding a garment before packing, for example how many folds, the finished folded size, and where any size sticker or tag is placed. |
| Assortment packing | تعبئة التشكيلة | Emballage assorti | Asorti paketleme | Packing a carton with a mix of sizes, in a stated ratio, so that one carton on its own represents a size run rather than a single size. |
| Solid-colour packing (solid packing) | التعبئة بلون واحد (سوليد) | Emballage en couleur unie (solid) | Solid (tek renk) paketleme | Packing a carton with only one colour or only one size, rather than mixing an assortment; the alternative to assortment packing, chosen by the buyer's own packing instruction. |
| Carton marking | علامات الكرتون | Marquage des cartons | Karton işaretleme | The information printed or labelled on a shipping carton, such as order number, quantity and destination, so cartons can be identified and sorted. |
| Size ratio | نسبة المقاسات | Ratio des tailles | Beden oranı | The split of an order's total quantity across the sizes offered, for example 1:2:2:1 for S:M:L:XL. |
You now know that a carton's packing format comes from the buyer's own packing instruction, not from factory habit. The next lesson looks at what happens when finishing or packing goes wrong: the quality faults an inspector actually finds, and how each is caught. Back to the course map